Toronto, Ontario Jul 24, 2025 (Issuewire.com) - Dr. Lindsay Martel Montgomery leads a transformative movement in archaeology and cultural heritage through her ethical, community-driven approach. As an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto and an experienced consultant, she advocates for Indigenous-led models that prioritize respect, reciprocity, and shared authority. With a career built on interdisciplinary research and Indigenous partnerships, Dr. Montgomery reshapes how institutions respect Indigenous histories and advance decolonial practice.
Dr.Montgomery earned her Ph.D. in Anthropology at Stanford University and began her academic journey at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, conducting research that engaged directly with Indigenous communities across North America. She frames archaeology as a relational process guided by care and mutual benefit. She cultivates sustained dialogue with communities including those in the Southwest, the Great Plains, and the Pacific Northwest. This long-term approach to collaboration lets her work evolve based on community goals, not archaeological agendas. She holds Wenner-Gren Foundation and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) grants, which fund community-engaged projects.
Building Ethical Frameworks and Shared Authority
Dr. Montgomery centers her work on collective benefit, community authority, researcher responsibility, and ethical data governance. She rejects extractive models, insisting that communities retain control over archaeological data, interpretations, and dissemination. She challenges universities, museums, and agencies to dismantle colonial structures and adopt practices consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
Dr. Montgomery emphasizes: Communities should contribute to and have ownership over questions, data, interpretations, and outcomes. Her work influences international policy by connecting academic and Indigenous-engaged perspectives to shape the future of cultural heritage management.
Transforming Teaching and Curriculum
At the University of Toronto, Dr. Montgomery redesigns courses and structures them around Indigenous philosophy and scholarship. She invites Indigenous peoples into the classroom and integrates community-driven projects into the syllabus. Her undergraduate courses, including Indigenous Archaeologies and Fight the Power feature hands-on learning through collaborations with museums, archives, and cultural heritage offices.
She mentors both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students to prioritize reciprocity and shared authority. Graduates from her program gain training that emphasizes decolonial praxis over dominant paradigms. Many now lead community-based research or restructured academic spaces outside mainstream frameworks.
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Speaking Out and Publishes Widely on Ethical Archaeology
Dr. Montgomery offers leadership in critical theory and praxis through conference talks, keynote addresses, and extensive publications. She has recently co-authored a public-facing thought piece in SAPIENS outlining a clear protocol for ethical, community-engaged and rights-based research. Her research articles include counter-histories of Indigenous persistence and resilience and guidelines on community governance of data and trauma-informed analysis.
She consults with researchers at institutions across Canada, New Zealand, and Europe to adjust exhibit design, repatriation policies, and narrative frameworks. She teaches that archaeology must move away from models of stewardship that maintain institutional power and instead embrace community control.
Trauma-Informed, Culturally Humble Research
Dr. Montgomery builds protocols that help institutions adopt trauma-informed, culturally engaged methods. She works with organizations managing sites and materials tied to residential schools and colonial conflict. Her protocols center survivor- and descendant-led decision-making and attend to the emotional impact of sensitive data.
She bridges therapy principles, archaeology, and community needs by advocating for archaeological protocols that integrate a cultural safety approach from early planning and data collection through interpretation and public access. Her training tools guide national heritage agencies and local museums toward safer, emotionally respectful protocols.
Grant-Funded Innovation and Motivations
Dr.Montgomery has secured major grants from Wenner-Gren, National Science Foundation, and SSHRC for projects aimed at collaboration, partnership, and critical thought. She develops research frameworks that support long-term community-engaged programs. She uses her academic platform to elevate BIPOC scholars and students and build programs where Indigenous groups set priorities.
Through her mentorship, she provides opportunities to emerging scholars equipped to pursue academic and professional careers in trauma-informed, community-rooted archaeology. She emphasizes that this work requires humility, accountability, and institutional flexibility
Practical Impact Through Consultation
Dr. Montgomery offers strategic guidance to organizations working to develop decolonial, antiracist, and ethical frameworks of research. She collaborates with governments, nonprofits, museums, and universities to rethink cultural resource management. Her protocols include: data governance agreements; community-led internal review boards and advisory councils; as well as transparent budgeting practices aligned with community benefit.
Organizations engaging her find that adopting ethical guidelines transforms operations, stakeholder relations, and public perception. They report increased trust, improved community relations, and enriched scholarship. Institutions recognize that ethical heritage care enhances cultural memory and reinforces local social cohesion.
Public Engagement and Decolonial Advocacy
Dr. Montgomery brings her work to a broader audience through community talks, online webinars, and public engagement. She recently participated in the University of Torontos Getting to Know Professor Lindsay Martel Montgomery series. She also appeared in IdeaMensch, where she explained how she turned decolonial principles into programs and institutional change.
Her skill lies in translating complex ideas into clear, practical tools. She likens her approach to archaeology as listening deeply, relinquishing control, and building trust. She encourages practitioners to do the same at every step before, during, and after research.
Defining a Future for Archaeology
Dr. Montgomery envisions archaeology as a field rooted in reciprocity, social justice, empowerment. She calls for academia, museums, and agencies to decolonize curricula, bylaws, research ethics boards, and funding structures. She wants institutions to commit to long-term accountability and structural change rather than performative action.
Ethical archaeology requires relationship building, she says. We cannot treat heritage projects as short-term deliverables. We must invest time, trust, and care. She suggests establishing performance measures that communities define themselves, restructuring departments to embed Indigenous advisory roles, tying funding to Indigenous leadership, and developing educational pipelines that support BIPOC youth.
Institutional Commitments in Motion
Several Canadian universities now follow Dr. Montgomerys lead. They adopt policies for shared data governance, integrate Indigenous voices into teaching, and coordinate repatriation programs. Museums in Ontario British Columbia, and Quebec implement trauma-informed exhibit design. Agencies across North America integrate disclosure signals into heritage reports.
Looking Ahead
As institutional and public pressure grows, Dr. Montgomery urges renewed commitment to community-based research and self-determination. She plans outreach to New Zealand and Australia, as well as Latin America, where Indigenous scholars lead ancestral heritage efforts. She pilots land-mapping projects, digital archiving platforms, and community-directed field schools.
She continues to raise funds for Indigenous-led research development and academic programs that center Indigenous methodologies.
About Dr. Lindsay Martel Montgomery
Dr. Lindsay Martel Montgomery holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Stanford University. She serves as an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Toronto. She specializes in Indigenous heritage collaboration, ethical cultural resource management, data governance, trauma-informed research, and decolonial archaeological practice. Her leadership in academic, public, and institutional spheres advances Indigenous inclusion and shared stewardship of heritage.
Source :Lindsay Martel Montgomery
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